Evaluation of Anti-diarrheal and Anti-nociceptive Activity of Methanolic Unripe Fruit Peels Extract of Masua ferrea Linn. on Mice Models

Background: Though traditionally the plant Masua ferrea has been used by south east Asian people in inflammation and septic conditions, the present study was designed to investigate the anti-diarrheal and anti-nociceptive activities of unripe fruit peel of Mesua ferrea on animal models. Methods: Various methods were employed for investigating these activities such as castor-oil induced diarrhea, castor-oil induced enteropooling and gastrointestinal motility test, acetic acid induced writhing test, tail immersion and hot plate methods. Results: From the experimental data it was found that the diarrheal episode was inhibited by 39.68% and 49.21% for methanol extract at the doses of 100 and 200 mg/kg respectively. The extract significantly lessened the intestinal volume for methanolic extract at 200 mg/Kg dose 0.54 ± 0.01 ml (p < 0.05) and at 200 mg/Kg dose 0.47 ± 0.02 ml (p < 0.01) compared to control 0.65 ± 0.03 ml in castor-oil induced enteropooling and also decreased intestinal transit 29.07 – 48.54% for methanolic extract comparable with standard (loperamide 5 mg/kg). Mesua ferrea peels significantly (P < 0.05, P < 0.01 and P < 0.001) reduced the number of writhing, increased latency to flick tail in tail immersion method and elevated the mean basal reaction time in hot plate method respectively. Besides, no delayed toxicity was observed in given doses. Conclusion: The methanolic extract exhibited highly significant anti-diarrheal and antinociceptive activity in a dose-dependent manner, which supports its use in traditional herbal medicine.